0:04

it should be no surprise that

0:06

every community should have a right to

0:08

a clean environment get

0:10

some or sacrifice

0:12

tones, sacrifice sons

0:15

communities living on the front line

0:17

of pollution and environmental hazard but

0:20

the good news is , we have

0:22

a unique opportunity to

0:24

address legacy pollution as we together

0:27

built an equitable incest

0:29

climate future this

0:31

is a story about can indecent prices

0:34

mostly these are can induce a black

0:36

and brown it and indigenous peoples it's

0:39

often a story of low income

0:41

communities that race

0:43

if a decisive factor

0:46

studies the

0:48

average middle income black family

0:51

with an eighty seven thousand five

0:53

hundred dollar income is likely

0:55

to live with more pollution than

0:58

a white family making twenty two

1:00

thousand five hundred dollars here

1:03

now my organization we act

1:05

for environmental justice works within

1:08

a movement of hundreds

1:10

of environmental justice groups here

1:12

and abroad to address the disproportionate

1:15

impact of pollution borne by

1:17

our community so

1:19

i'm talking about environmental justice

1:22

which is a civil rights and human

1:24

rights analysis of environmental

1:26

decision making with the focus on

1:29

the paramedic the permitting

1:31

process begins polluters

1:34

permission the police within

1:36

a regulatory standards for

1:38

air water and soil now

1:41

these permit the arena wow

1:43

what's that sacrifices the help

1:45

of community residents the cumulative

1:47

effect of multiple facilities

1:50

cited in a community that emit

1:52

high levels of pollution in close

1:54

proximity to where people live that

1:57

contributes to glaring health

1:59

there

2:01

harvard university studies among

2:03

black americans living in areas like

2:05

harlem and the south bronx the

2:09

communities which do not need clean air

2:11

standards set by the environmental

2:13

protection agency and those

2:15

studies have found the black

2:17

americans have died of close it nineteen

2:20

at higher rates than others do

2:22

to living in air politik community

2:26

that's not a surprise since live

2:28

in chardy of people who live in areas

2:30

that do not need clean their standards

2:33

are lax he knows and black americans

2:35

and that's the case in an area

2:37

called cancer alley

2:40

now there's a song sung by the late that

2:43

king cole out unforgettable

2:46

that is what cancer alley is

2:48

it is unforgettable is in

2:51

the worst possible way seventy

2:53

much five mile corridor between

2:56

new orleans and baton rouge it's

2:58

a continuum petrochemical

3:01

and plastics manufacturing facilities

3:04

on

3:04

there's a former plantation

3:07

now these facilities have created

3:09

an intergenerational history

3:11

of death from cancer with some

3:14

communities suffering cancer

3:16

rates higher than the national

3:18

them

3:20

now communities experience environmental

3:23

hazards and pollution exposure and diverse

3:25

place in urban areas mobile

3:28

sources contaminated sites

3:30

they're really the challenge and local governments

3:32

generally manage the street

3:35

infrastructure of police smaller

3:38

cities and rural areas and just

3:40

thrill and oil refineries landfills

3:43

and incinerators they're usually the problem

3:46

and at places like texas and california

3:49

there may be no zoning laws

3:51

that separate industrial facilities

3:54

from residential back yard

3:57

so a bare metal racism and injustice

3:59

stand a complex legacy

4:02

of housing segregation land

4:04

use and zoning discrimination and

4:07

from unequal enforcement and

4:09

policies now decades

4:11

ago policy

4:13

such as redlining denied

4:16

home loans to people of color into

4:18

certain communities and this

4:20

government policies reinforced

4:22

racial segregation and cities and

4:25

diverted investments away

4:27

from those communities craving march

4:29

disparities in home ownership

4:32

as well as urban seat

4:34

by i'm that's a few trees

4:36

and know open space so today

4:39

the living out the legacy of

4:42

those races

4:42

power

4:44

now i first began organizing

4:46

around these issues as an

4:48

elected democratic district leader and

4:50

my west harlem neighborhood and

4:53

nineteen eighty eight access founded

4:55

what west harlem environmental action

4:57

known as we act for environmental justice

5:00

and you know we began organizing

5:03

educating our neighbors to understand

5:05

the impact of the disproportionate

5:07

sightings and permitting a polluting

5:09

facilities in our community we

5:12

started out by happy

5:15

new york city to six

5:17

the north with a sewage treatment plant in the

5:19

hudson river that was ruining our quality

5:21

of life by admitting toxic fumes

5:24

and we began to ask ourselves and number

5:26

of clusters how could we transform

5:29

the new york city diesel best split fleet

5:32

to clean fuel buses

5:34

we host over seven hundred and

5:36

forty at the city diesel bus

5:38

fleet in uptown depots

5:41

how could we have a waterfront park

5:43

along the beautiful hudson river and

5:46

set up a parking lot how

5:48

could we get environmental justice

5:50

the agenda of new york city

5:53

the state and the federal government

5:55

to invest and sustainability

5:57

in our community

6:00

i know that it only takes one person

6:03

to reimagine what's possible and

6:07

somehow it's a change takes decades

6:09

it took his eighteen years to

6:12

transform the new york city diesel bus

6:14

fleet the hybrids however it took

6:16

only a few months to ensure

6:18

that all new york schools i

6:21

tested for lead and drinking water

6:24

i noted so much as

6:26

possible when we have the right political

6:29

moment but to capitalize

6:31

we must mobilize a critical mass

6:34

of people to create real change

6:36

and to monitor that our policies

6:39

are implemented in the way that doesn't

6:41

tend to

6:42

environmental justice couldn't have done

6:44

just that

6:46

the number of ways so we've created

6:48

working group since campaign some

6:50

months people who have a real stake

6:53

in the com those most affected

6:55

by harm or new policies and

6:57

we engage them and environmental

6:59

decision making those are the people

7:02

who have the lived experience

7:04

who confessed advise on climate adaptation

7:07

and resilience planet now

7:09

if their prospectus had been

7:11

known an integrated into the

7:13

inter agency emergency

7:16

response planning the new orleans

7:19

for erik kain katrina thousands

7:22

of families would not have been stranded

7:24

on their moves waiting for rescue

7:27

or sleeping and a sports stadium because

7:29

the city would have already know

7:32

that lower income families living in

7:34

a flood zone did not have a car

7:36

to evacuate the city or a credit

7:38

card to access a hotel room

7:41

another tactic we engage as wingate

7:44

community and educational workshops

7:46

and help them better articulate the dadis

7:48

testified hearings train

7:50

resonance to become citizens

7:53

scientists who clicked their own air and

7:55

water quality data to influence

7:57

policy makers and elected official

8:00

and us officials should resource

8:03

every community to develop a

8:05

climate action plan detractors

8:08

neighbourhood level response

8:10

and challenges to extreme weather

8:13

as them

8:16

also the about strong

8:19

strong policy agenda zip the city

8:21

state and federal level space on

8:23

can in deep respect his experience

8:26

and the ball thing transition from a

8:28

fossil fuel economy and

8:30

is a tactics that can be applied with

8:33

in local contacts

8:34

in any can be and

8:36

so it's me transition the

8:39

renewable energy sources we know

8:41

that energy and security will impact

8:43

millions more households as

8:45

utility

8:46

the increase

8:47

he didn't carbonized buildings pre

8:50

and fasten it will be needed to upgrade

8:53

residential buildings and front line communities

8:56

before electrification of

8:59

electrification of will be achieved

9:02

the challenge you

9:04

the create the change we need by incorporating

9:07

equity and lived experience and

9:09

to all public and government policies

9:13

my vision

9:14

is to redress the legacy of pollution

9:16

by targeting front line communities

9:19

not or pollution but to become

9:21

green zones greens zones

9:24

where we can incentivize community

9:26

shared solar electrification

9:28

green business is good jobs and

9:31

worker cooperative because

9:33

today we are at an inflection point

9:35

with an opportunity to achieve that

9:38

says

9:39

the hydrant ministers and

9:42

that's committed to censoring environmental justice

9:44

and all government policies to an executive

9:47

order that directs at least forty

9:49

percent of the benefits from

9:51

federal investments and clean energy

9:54

to go to disadvantaged communities

9:56

there isn't an opportunity to

9:59

implement a tray formative and

10:01

accountable process for the fair

10:03

and just distribution of

10:05

benefits of justice forty different line

10:08

communities of black browns

10:10

and indigenous people

10:12

we must make certain that the

10:15

and the benefits reach

10:17

the communities intended given

10:19

the bias and ambivalence of

10:21

many state and local governments

10:24

but , done effectively this

10:26

get the transformative

10:28

donald just cycle

10:31

the exploitation and extraction

10:35

every community every community

10:37

has the right to a clean and and

10:39

you do not to be

10:41

an environmental champion

10:43

or climate justice leader to

10:46

embrace that value so

10:48

i call and your humanity to

10:51

center the voices and perspectives

10:53

in all policies of those

10:55

most affected by environmental hazards,

10:58

and climate change we can

11:00

create a legacy of environmental

11:02

quality and climate brazil

11:05

for all, we can this and

11:07

we must

11:08

thank you